Toledo- Ohio, Jessie Duke equipped with the few precious items of his children, a few photos and family records, sets out for Japan. After the earthquake, a few e-mail lines from their Japanese mother read “I am heading to another evacuee point now but remembered the conversation about you. I think they are fine. I just need to find them. Logically they should be fine and I have a feeling that they will survive.” Three days later…” Found them at the hospital. Shanon is badly injured. Riki is fine. She needs food. We see dead people on street and my room is not a place for living anymore.” The next day, “Shanon had a big piece of broken glass stick into his body and it reached to organ. Still in very serious condition. Riki is scared and hungry. We are out of everything plus one of the electric refineries is about to expose that can kill many people again and make situation worse.. Shanon needs to be where he is at which is the red cross hospital. – Then there was nothing more. Shanon is an 8 year old American boy. Riki is just four years old.

Desperately contacting his case worker at the state department in the states and working in conjunction with the US embassy in Tokyo, Jessie tries to get an update on his children. No avail. They cannot locate his son at any surrounding hospitals. After hitting several dead ends- his only recourse is to find them himself. The case worker wrote back “The American Embassy in Tokyo called the Minoto Red Cross in Yokohama to get a status report on Shannon today. They said that no one under that name was there.”

Deborah Duke, Jessie’s mother writes, “He served our country in the US Navy and is now relying on it to help him bring his kids home.” Eight years ago Jessie Duke, then age 22, was stationed on the Kitty Hawk in Japan where met his wife while serving his country. After his Japan tour, the couple moved to the states and had a second child. Four years ago his wife and kids went home to Japan for Christmas and never returned. The children have now been in Japan for 4 years with little to no contact from their mother.

There are over 165 American children in Japan that has been cut off from their American families. How do we escalate this so that the American people do not forget the small Americans over there with no voice? Riki was born right here in Toledo, Ohio and lived with us in Michigan until her mom took her to Japan. If these were your children think of the anguish you would feel if one day they were just gone. No contact- no pictures- nothing.

This is the greatest display of human suffering and torment because we are so helpless- and so are our children. The anguish my family has suffered by not having contact with the children is truly heartbreaking. We teach our boys to be men- to stand for their God, their Country and their family. What message are we sending when a father cannot help his children or even know that they are safe?

We have waited patiently for four years now for the government to step up and help these fathers. It is time to bring them home! Last correspondence from the Mother. “ When I got whole bunch of letters from American embassy I told them I don’t share information about kids.” Where does this leave the children- do they have no rights? Are you only an American if you are standing on American soil? Please help me understand.